Faculty Member Nick Cave’s Truth Be Told to Appear on Billboards Across the United States

Stephanie and Bill Sick Professor of Fashion, Body and Garment Nick Cave created the massive text-based piece Truth Be Told to “question the precarious nature of truth in our society” in response to the George Floyd’s murder. In the fall of 2020, the piece became the subject of a legal controversy in Kinderhook, New York, centered on the piece’s First Amendment rights to be displayed across the facade of the Jack Shainman Gallery’s outpost. Now, animated versions of the public art installation, featuring the SAIC faculty member’s celebrated Soundsuits, will be featured on more than 300 billboards across the country.

Surface reports on Cave’s latest partnership with Orange Barrel Media and Bob Faust: “The project’s latest iteration was specially created for the media agency’s Sunset Spectacular in West Hollywood through its Arts on Sunset initiative, but new presentations [launched] July 4 in major cities such as Atlanta, Washington, and Boston. ‘At a time of so much disinformation and racist beliefs finally surfacing,’ says Cave, ‘it’s more important than ever to speak truth to power, and in many cases to ourselves.’"